The Armenian National Movement (ANM) political party decided to boycott the constitutional amendments during its last administrative council and made announcements regarding that. We talked about this and other inter-political issues with president of the administrative branch of ANM Ararat Zurabyan.
– How will you control the boycott and how do you guarantee that the boycott will make sure that there are no falsifications after the referendum?
– The thing is that Armenian political forces can participate in the elections if their representatives are members of the electoral committees. At the present, ANM does not have that opportunity. We can say from experience that the committees do not always work in favor of the political parties. However, I think that this time they will be forced to take the political parties’ interests into consideration and take the right path. With that said, I must say that the number one issue concerning the “Justice” and “National Unity” alliances is to keep an eye on the results and make sure that the elections are fair. They are the ones that must fight for and stand up for the people’s voices. Unfortunately, the past elections have proven this to be wrong. The alliances have not shown themselves (I don’t want to make rude comments). As for us, we are not going to take part in the referendum; we don’t even have the opportunity. But we do have political party members that are members of this or that NGO and will be present as observers at the polls. We have members all around the country and they will be the ones propagandizing, convincing the people that the boycott is the best road to take.
– It seems as if ANM is staying out of the picture and not participating. Aren’t you afraid that the people may later accuse ANM for being passive?
– To tell you the truth, the people have accused ANM for almost everything. We really don’t care less if they accuse us for that. Currently, the entire political field is active and I think that that is a pretty large potential in order to solve the problem at hand. We, the political party members, are certain that even if we try to participate in any political process, we will be the ones to suffer and the winner is always the second side. It has been like this for seven years already.
– Wouldn’t it be right to go into discussions concerning the contents of the constitution and describe the flaws in the draft to the people so that they know why they must not vote for it?
– I don’t think that we should explain everything to the people. There is one problem though: we don’t have authorities that are trusted by at least some of the people. The constitutional laws have been violated ever since 1998 in Armenia. The president has been the one violating those laws. The political forces (part of the coalition) have helped the president. They are the ones that have no political, moral or legal right to try and amend the constitution.
-Today, the opposition is split in three. One side is boycotting the constitutional amendments, the other side propagandizes voting “no” to the amendments, while the third side agrees to voting “yes” if president R. Kocharyan promises to do away with the National Assembly after the referendum and start new elections. By continuing this way, doesn’t the opposition fear that it will lose the trust of the people and once again lose the battle?
– I don’t think that the opposition must continue to be unified, especially when none of the political parties share ideological views. The opposition will never have the chance to lose as long as we have these authorities. Even if it wishes to lose, it will not have the opportunity. If the National Assembly elections go fairly, then obviously the opposition will win. But if the results are falsified (and I am certain that it will be like that), then it will not matter if the opposition is separate or unified. It can then raise its voice, organize meetings and go along the path of civil disobedience.
-The opposition promises to turn November 27 into a referendum for the trust of the authorities and finally make the long awaited change of power a reality.
– Society is not that mature for it to make change of power a reality. As for the referendum, the opposition had made a serious political mistake. The “Justice” alliance was trying to work on the constitutional draft during the Venetian Congress The opposition that played a major role in 2003, the opposition that organized the April 12 events, must have understood one thing: it has nothing to do with the authorities in the constructive field and had to express its opinion beforehand.
– From what I understand, you do not believe that there will be a change of power after the constitutional amendments referendum.
– One time I said that for the ANM, change of power is as impossible in ANM as it is possible. The people have waited and waited and any time may be a good time for change of power. If the political processes do not lead to that, then I am positive that the parliamentary elections in Armenia will. But let’s pray that change of power happens soon. If there are political forces that see the opportunity of change of power, then we are ready to follow their footsteps, help them in that process, cooperate and fight for our goal. If not, then we will have to be patient until we have the opportunity during the state elections.
– If your political party refused to participate in the referendum, how does it plan on participating in the meetings organized by the opposition?
– If the events go on in the streets, we will be sure to follow. In contrast to other political parties, which try to show their representatives on the political stage any chance they get, we don’t care about the political stage. During the past few years, we have always tried to be behind the curtain and stay with the people.
– Does the political party plan on staying behind the curtain in the near future or will it get up on stage?
– That will depend on who will be the ones on this stage and who will be backstage. There are certain political forces in Armenia with whom it is difficult to negotiate much less have
something in common. It is obvious that there are many oppositional forces that have helped strengthen this regime. At the present, they are at this level, however, there is a difference in mentality and views and we feel that the political force must keep its identity.